1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an attachment structure appropriate for attaching blocks or plates of tile, stone, etc., for wall facing that have not been formed in a uniform predetermined form, i.e., for attaching undefined or random-shaped wall facing material to reinforced concrete, wood, or other like, walls of buildings, and particularly to exterior walls.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, the wet method for attaching wall facing material such as tile or stone to the exterior wall of a building, wherein backing is fixed to posts or studs in the case of a wood building, for example, or wherein mortar backing is applied to the wall in the case of a reinforced concrete building, and an adhesive agent or mortar is applied to the backing so as to join the facing material thereto, has generally been used.
In comparison, the technique of the so-called dry method has been proposed and is being practiced, wherein linear metal pieces having hooking means are fixed to the above backing, and wall facing material configured with retaining means corresponding to the hooking means provided on the rear side thereof is attached thereto, thereby attaching wall facing material onto the backing in a speedy and accurate manner by retaining the retaining means of the latter on the hooking means of the former.
With the above wet method, the wall facing material such as tile is applied by adhesion to the backing from the bottom and working upwards, and particularly in the event of large and heavy wall facing material, there has been the problem in that the wall facing material to be installed above cannot be applied until the adhesive agent or mortar supporting the lower wall facing material already installed has hardened.
With the wet method technique, holding the weight of the applied wall facing material depends solely on the adhesive strength of the adhesive agent, so there is the problem of sagging wherein the wall facing material gradually descends by its own weight, which may mean that the position of the wall facing material needs to be corrected several times following attaching, or the work needs to wait until the adhesive agent or mortar supporting the lower wall facing material already installed hardens before applying the wall facing material to be installed above.
Further, due to such sagging, and an absence of an appropriate guide member for accurately arraying the wall facing material, there is the problem that accurate arraying of the wall facing material is difficult. In addition, there are no joining means between the wall facing material and the backing other than the adhesive agent or mortar, so there is the problem of peeling and falling of the applied tiles and the like due to deterioration over time of the adhesive agent or mortar, and swaying such as earthquakes, which cause weakening of the joints.
The dry method technique has been proposed and is being practiced as a method for solving the above problems in the wet method technique, and has the advantages that unskilled workers can speedily apply the wall facing material in an accurate array, there is no problem of sagging during work, and there is no problem of the wall facing material peeling away and falling due to motion such as earthquakes or deterioration of the adhesive agent and the like.
However, the above dry method technique is applicable to wall facing material of certain shapes such as specification items, and is not applicable to wall facing material of undefined or random shapes.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an attachment structure for undefined or random-shaped wall facing material, wherein attaching work can be continued without waiting for the adhesive agent or the like of the lower wall facing material already installed to harden before attaching the wall facing material to be installed above even in cases wherein undefined or random-shaped wall facing material is being sequentially applied on backing from the bottom toward the top, thereby improving work efficiency.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an attachment structure for undefined or random-shaped wall facing material, wherein a wall facing material attaching structure can be obtained which does not easily fall even in the event of being subjected to effects of movement of the backing such as vibrations like earthquakes or shrinking or deformation of the structure, or other like external forces, particularly in the event of attaching the wall facing material to the wall plane of a wood or steel framed building.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an attachment structure for undefined or random-shaped wall facing material, wherein a wall facing material attaching structure can be obtained which does not easily fall even in the event of deterioration of the adhesive agent or the like.
To this end, the attachment structure for random-shaped wall facing material according to the present invention involves a retaining plate provided with a great number of retaining members over then entire surface thereof being attached to the front plane of backing, multiple random-shaped wall facing material pieces being arrayed on the front plane of the retaining plate in an arbitrary layout, the random-shaped wall facing material pieces being adhered to the retaining plate and the backing at the rear plate thereof by spots of adhesive agent, and at least the upper portion and lower portion edges of the random-shaped wall facing material pieces being supported by multiple attachment pieces retained by retaining portions of the retaining plate, and further the space between adjacent random-shaped wall facing material pieces being filled with a jointing material.
The term xe2x80x9crandom-shaped wall facing materialxe2x80x9d means tile, stone, blocks, etc., that are to be adhered to the wall plane of a building and do not have a certain form, and includes all such non-orderly material which is used to create a varied design on the wall surface. While the random-shaped wall facing material with the above configuration may be used as is without problem, it is further preferable to strengthen the attachment state by fixing one end of a wire material to the rear plane thereof and the other end to the retaining portion of the retaining plate at the time of attaching the random-shaped wall facing material to the front plane of the retaining plate, thereby making the attachment of the retaining plate even more secure.
A commonly-used backing is used. For example, a backing plate is prepared, and this is attached to the frame structure of the building such as posts or the like, or in the event that the surface state of a reinforced concrete structure or the like is good and can be used, the surface of the frame structure is used as is as the backing.
There is the need for retaining portions to exist uniformly over the entire surface of the retaining plate, as described above. That is, the retaining plate is for arraying the random-shaped wall facing material on the front plane thereof and supporting at least the upper and lower edge portions of the random-shaped wall facing material with attaching pieces retained on the retaining portions of the retaining plate so as to be fixed at the position thereof, wherein the random-shaped wall facing material is indeed undefined in form, so the attaching pieces may be attached to various retaining positions on the retaining plate depending on the form of the random-shaped wall facing material piece. Thus, the retaining portions of the retaining plate must be provided over the entire surface thereof as a matter of course, so that any retaining position of the attachment pieces which can come at various positions can be dealt with.
Accordingly, as a specific arrangement, a preferable attachment structure uses either one or the other of the following as the retaining plate: a metal plate having a great number of retaining holes serving as the retaining portions opened over the entire surface thereof in a uniform manner; or a net-shaped metal material having retaining mesh of an appropriate coarseness to serve as the retaining portions.
Also, the retaining plate and backing may be joined with a free configuration, but it is preferable to join the retaining plate and the backing with somewhat of a gap therebetween. A joint of such a configuration allows space between the random-shaped wall facing material joined at the front plane of the retaining plate and the backing fixed to the frame structure, so that any warping of the building itself or shocks which the building receives are not directly transmitted to the random-shaped wall facing material, thereby keeping problems of cracking, peeling, etc., thereof from occurring easily.
Accordingly, it is appropriate for the joining portion of the retaining plate for joining with the backing to be configured of a trapezoidal portion protruding on the thickness direction and a screw hole opened in the center thereof, wherein the retaining plate is brought into contact with the backing by the trapezoidal protrusion, and fixed with a screw screwed into the backing through the screw hole.
Also, the attaching piece is not restricted to a specific arrangement so long as the attaching piece can be attached to the retaining portions provided to the entire surface of the retaining plate, and is capable of supporting the edge portion of the random-shaped wall facing material arrayed at the front plane of the retaining plate.
Regarding the method of supporting thereby, a configuration may be used wherein, of the attaching pieces, the attaching pieces which support the lower edge portion of the random-shaped wall facing material support the random-shaped wall facing material by the lower edge thereof being placed thereupon. Regarding the attaching pieces supporting the upper edge of the random-shaped wall facing material, there is the need for a configuration wherein the upper edge portion is in a generally nipped state by the attaching pieces in cooperation with the retaining plate at the rear side thereof.
For example, an attachment piece of the type wherein the lower edge portion of the random-shaped wall facing material is placed thereupon as with the former can be configured by comprising a retaining piece being retained by the retaining portion of the retaining plate, and a receiving-plate-shaped supporting piece continuing therefrom upon which is placed the lower edge portion of the random-shaped wall facing material placed on the front plate of the retaining plate. Also, an attachment piece of the type wherein the upper edge portion of the random-shaped wall material is in a generally nipped state with the retaining plate as with the latter can be configured by comprising a retaining piece for being retained by the retaining portion of the retaining plate and a supporting piece continuing therefrom for supporting the upper edge portion of the random-shaped wall facing material placed on the front plate of the retaining plate in a generally nipped state, by cooperating with a corresponding portion of the retaining plate.
Also, an adhesive agent having elasticity is preferably used in order to deal with swaying due to earthquakes and deformation and the like of the building structure. Of course, an appropriate type may be selected from conventional adhesive agents.
Further, commercially-available jointing material used for the above purpose is sufficient for the jointing material.
Accordingly, with the attachment structure for random-shaped wall facing material according to the present invention, in the event that the object building is of wood or steel frame structure or the like, the backing is attached to the structure such as to posts and the like, and in the event that the structure is reinforced concrete, the surface of the structure is used as is or backing is used by applying mortar or the like thereto to smooth the surface, following by attaching the retaining plate to the front plane thereof. This retaining plate has a great many retaining portions configured over the entire surface thereof, as described above.
Next, the random-shaped wall facing material has an adhesive agent applied to the rear side thereof and is joined to the front plane of the retaining plate at an arbitrary position, with at least the lower edge portion and upper edge portion thereof being supported at the same time or immediately after. Also, in the event that further strengthening of the attachment state of the random-shaped wall facing material is desired, it is preferable that one end of a wire member be fixed to the rear plane of the random-shaped wall facing material as described above, and at the time of joining the rear side with adhesive agent applied thereto at an arbitrary position on the retaining plate as described above, the other end of the wire member be tied to an appropriate retaining portion on the retaining plate. Further, at the time of positioning the random-shaped wall facing material, attaching the attaching piece to a retaining portion at an appropriate corresponding position on the retaining plate beforehand according to the position of attachment facilitates ease of installation. As described above, a great number of retaining portions are provided over the entire surface of the retaining plate, so the attaching piece can be attached to approximately the arbitrary desired position. Thus, the attaching pieces can be retained at appropriate positions to easily deal with random joining of the random-shaped wall facing material pieces, as well.
Thus, the random-shaped wall facing material pieces are held at arbitrary positions on the retaining plate by the attaching pieces, with the weight thereof being received by the attaching pieces provided at the bottom edge in particular, so force in the direction of peeling away is restricted by the upper attaching pieces and lower attaching pieces. As a result, problems such as sagging of the random-shaped wall facing material do not occur even in the event that the adhesive agent has not sufficiently hardened. Thus, there is no need for correcting the array position, and random-shaped wall facing material pieces can sequentially be attached upwards from the bottom without waiting for the adhesive agent applied between the random-shaped wall facing material and retaining plate and the backing to harden. Fixing one end of a wire material to the rear plane of the random-shaped wall facing material and tying the other end to a retaining portion of the retaining plate as described above makes the attachment of the random-shaped wall facing material to the retaining plate even more secure from the beginning, so the above advantages can be had in an even more sure manner.
It should be noted that, though the above description mentions the random-shaped wall facing material being attached from the bottom upwards, the present invention is not restricted to such. Rather, installation may be performed from the side or from the top, without any problem.
After joining the random-shaped wall facing material to the wall face area as described above, the gaps between the adjacent random-shaped wall facing material pieces are filled in with a jointing material. Thus, the edge portions of the attaching pieces are imbedded in the jointing material, and no longer are visible.
Thus, according to the attachment structure for random-shaped wall facing material according to the present invention, the weight of each wall facing material piece is received by the attaching pieces and the wire members provided as necessary, so force in that direction is not applied to the adhesive agent. That is to say, hardly any force other than that orthogonal to the adhesive plane of the adhesive agent is applied. As a result, elastic adhesive agents which have weak shearing strengths can be used, and consequently, this can be used to absorb and alleviate movement, shock, vibration, etc., of the backing. Hence, cracking and falling of the random-shaped wall facing material can be prevented. The random-shaped wall facing material pieces are also supported by attaching pieces and wire members provided as necessary, so falling of the wall facing material pieces is clearly prevented by these as well.